Technical and environmental assessment of all-electric 180-passenger commercial aircraft

Abstract

Aviation emissions contribute to climate change, and all-electric aircraft offer an opportunity for zero in-flight emissions. Over the past decade, more than 50 all-electric conceptual, experimental, and commercial aircraft have been researched, with a particular focus on light aircraft. These designs are reviewed, along with progress in battery technology. An all-electric aircraft design and optimization program, TASOPTe, has been developed from an existing version for conventionally-powered aircraft, TASOPT. Both programs are largely based on first-principles, enabling the design of aircraft with unusually short design ranges. A series of optimized 180-passenger aircraft based on the Airbus A320neo configuration are designed and evaluated at 200-1600 nmi design ranges with 2-10 propulsors and 400-2000 Wh/kg batteries. The performance of these all-electric aircraft is compared to advanced conventionally-powered aircraft optimized for the same design ranges. Optimized all-electric aircraft are found to use two or four propulsors, depending on the design range and specific energy assumed. The design range limits for each specific energy are determined, which are restricted by aircraft weight and performance penalties. A factor of four increase in battery pack specific energy from current values of 200 Wh/kg to 800 Wh/kg enables 500 nmi flights. However, a lower design range of 300 nmi provides improved energy and environmental performance. The required grid power generation circumstances for commercial all-electric aircraft to become net environmentally beneficial is determined for each specific energy assumption. The entire energy conversion chain, including charging, transport, and discharging of electrical energy, is considered. Despite the higher total energy use, narrow-body all-electric aircraft have the potential for lower equivalent CO 2 emissions if the electrical grid transitions toward renewable energy. This is largely enabled by the complete elimination of all highaltitude emissions, which would remove associated non-CO 2 warming. I would like to thank my advisor, Professor Steven Barrett, for accepting me into his lab midyear, allowing me to work on an interesting research project, and providing valuable guidance and support. Thank you Jayant Sabnis, Ray Speth, and Professor Mark Drela as well for many helpful discussions. To my lab mates and friends in LAE, especially Akshat, Tim, and Guillaume, thank you for your advice and friendship. Thank you to my close friends both at MIT and across the country for your encouragement and confidence in me. I would like to give a shout out to the AeroAstro Ballers, Bows, G 3, the 125ers, and the Esteemed Squad. A special thank you to Patrik for being my closest friend for over a decade. For your continuous supply of energy and inspiration, thank you Mr. Hyde and Mr. Shakur, respectively. Finally, and most importantly, I am deeply grateful for the love and encouragement from my family. Thank you to my many cousins, aunts, and uncles,. especially Aunt Char and Uncl...

A Review of Concepts, Benefits, and Challenges for Future Electrical Propulsion-Based Aircraft

“…The majority of the aircrafts in this category are designed for smaller size, with a few exceptions. Gnadt et al [13] study presented a survey on fixed wing airframe based fully-electric aircraft conceptualized designs.…”

“…Furthermore, the concept was utilized in the ECO-150 design within the Federal Aviation Regulation (FAR) certification requirement and showed little to no improvement in the efficiency [68]. DEP also facilitates a steeper descent operation which gives opportunity for regeneration while descending by wind milling some of the propulsors [13].…”

“…Furthermore, the decrease in the fuel weight over the mission improves with the drag reduction and makes the propulsion system more efficient in the process. For battery technology that gains mass over the range, the rate of mass gain is presented as [13]:…”

“…The range equation for the mass gaining aircraft with substitution of Equations (3) and (4) into Equation (2) results in [13]:…”

“…Jansen et al [11] and Bowman et al [12] presented an overview of the NASA supported conceptual designs. Gnadt et al [13] presented a list of seventy fully electric aircraft designs, conceptualized in the past. Brelje et al [14] offered a broad overview on the impacts of the electric propulsion system on the aircraft sizing process and emphasized on the need for a multidisciplinary optimization framework.…”